Identification of blood biomarkers of rheumatoid arthritis by transcript profiling of peripheral blood mononuclear cells from the rat collagen-induced arthritis model.

ABSTRACT: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic debilitating autoimmune disease that results in joint destruction and subsequent loss of function. To better understand its pathogenesis and to facilitate the search for novel RA therapeutics, we profiled the rat model of collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) to discover and characterize blood biomarkers for RA. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were purified using a Ficoll gradient at various time points after type II collagen immunization for RNA preparation. Total RNA was processed for a microarray analysis using Affymetrix GeneChip technology. Statistical comparison analyses identified differentially expressed genes that distinguished CIA from control rats. Clustering analyses indicated that gene expression patterns correlated with laboratory

SUBMITTER: Shou J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1526586 | biostudies-literature | 2006

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature